Alt text (alternative text) is a brief description added to an image’s HTML that describes what the image shows, following practices recommended by the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (opens in new tab). It is read aloud by screen readers for visually impaired visitors and used by search engines to understand image content, since they cannot "see" pixels directly.
Writing Alt Text That Actually Describes Something
The most useful alt text describes what’s actually happening in the image, specifically enough that someone who can’t see it still understands its purpose on the page. A generic label like "photo" or the filename itself provides no real information to a screen reader or a search engine, defeating the entire purpose of including it.
Purely decorative images that add no real information, a background pattern for example, are generally better left with empty alt text rather than a forced, meaningless description.
Example
Good example
alt="Customer tapping an NFC card to leave a Google review at a restaurant counter"
Common mistake
alt="image1.jpg" or alt="" left blank on a meaningful photo
People also ask
Does alt text help SEO?
Yes, moderately — it helps images rank in Google Image Search and provides context that supports the overall page’s relevance, though it is a smaller factor than page content itself.
See also
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